Oakwood Cemetery Chapel presents “To Liberate,” a digital exhibit about the Watson Chateau and its owners.

The Oakwood Chapel Winter 2022 exhibit "To Liberate" reveals the cultural history of the Watson Chateau, believed to have been built in 1853 by Margaret Neville Bowie, Rezin Bowie’s widow, and sister-in-law to Jim Bowie. Enslaved people also lived on the property. Subsequent owners included doctors, land speculators, attorneys, farmers, a hairstylist, a secretary, and lastly, a gay couple. They lived together at The Chateau for almost 50 years, hosting fabulous, well-known parties for the elite of Austin, Texas--and more quietly for the city’s closeted gay men. The house still stands but is rapidly deteriorating. A long unanswered question remains about the fate of the Watson Chateau. How will the current owner, The University of Texas at Austin, treat the property as the Dell Medical campus expands? Many Austinites hope that it will be saved and its history will be liberated for future generations.

Oakwood Cemetery was situated just northeast of the city limits. Now, after decades of city expansion, the cemetery is in the heart of Austin. The cemetery holds the namesakes of many Austin buildings, streets, and beloved parks. The final resting place for more than 23,000 people, Oakwood Cemetery remains an enduring link to the community, cultures, and life stories that built the great city just beyond its gates.

The Oakwood Cemetery Chapel was created in 1914, 75 years after the cemetery was founded, to host funeral and memorial services on site. The cemetery is evidence of the changing city and the past century’s shifting attitudes about mortuary services. Reopened in spring 2019, the Chapel is part of the Museums and Cultural Programs Division of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Austin. The Chapel is a visitor center where we can, as an act of remembrance, learn about our cultural heritage through the people who were buried in the surrounding cemetery. Genealogy reveals our forebearers' influence on the past and future. We share and collect individual narratives to create a framework for the collective human story.

Oakwood Cemetery Chapel's digital history exhibits are published here: